Newcastle Wildcats
This article is about the Newcastle Wildcats, the team name of the Newcastle University Ice Hockey Club (NUIHC). The Newcastle Wildcats are a university ice hockey team representing Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. NUIHC are a member club of the British Universities Ice Hockey AssociationBUIHA Club Details (BUIHA) and ice three teams across all three tiers of UK university competitionExaminer Jan 28 2008. The club is listed as number 6481 at Eurohockey.comEurohockey Club Listing The club is notable for now being the 3rd oldest amongst modern British university ice hockey programmes (having been founded in 1994) and for the fact that it was the first to introduce mixed gender participation in to a full-contact university sport. The Wildcats operate a successful beginners' training programme to develop new players. Partially as a result of this, Newcastle University was the most represented institution in terms of player registration within the BUIHA for three seasons with the Wildcats preferring to ice teams consisting almost totally of Newcastle students and mostly shunning the popular practice of pooling players from the maximum possible number of institutions. Since their inception, the Wildcats have mainly been based at Whitley Bay Ice Rink, alongside the semi-professional Whitley Warriors, rivals Northumbria Flames and, at one time, the Newcastle Vipers of the Elite Ice Hockey League. Both Newcastle University and Northumbria Clubs often played at the Metro Radio ArenaChronicle 25 Nov 2009 during hockey evenings hosted by the VipersJournal 22 Jan 2009Chronicle 18 Nov 2009, indeed the Vipers included the game between the two University teams as part of their 'farewell evening' when they left the city centre rinkJournal 22 Oct 2009. History The Wildcats have a storied history, claiming the first two university National Championships in 2001 and 2002. They have been less successful, however, in the BUIHA era of British university hockey. After winning the Division Two (North) title in 2004, a long trophy drought was ended by a rampant first team, who won the Division One (North) title for the 2009/10 season and advanced to the national playoff finals. In 2013 the Club's C-Team won the BUIHA Tier IV Nationals - a remarkable achievement as the squad had struggled throughout the year in the Cup competitionBUIHA Div4N 2012 Table. The Newcastle Wildcats were officially formed in 1994 by Ian Pitcher, having existed as a loose collection of Newcastle University students in previous years. One of the original coaches & players for the team was ex NHL Pittsburgh Penguins and Whitley Warriors stalwart Mike Rowe (ice hockey) - who was studying for a postgraduate degree at the time. The newly-created Wildcats would play out of Whitley Bay Ice Rink, situated on the coast just outside the city centre and represented the city of Newcastle upon Tyne as a whole by pooling players from both Newcastle University and the newly-incorporated Northumbria University. This collaboration was the reason for the choice of the neutral Wildcats name, as opposed to Royals, which is the traditional nickname used by Newcastle University's sports teams. Throughout their early existence, the club iced only one team almost exclusively in challenge games against recreational ice hockey sides in the North East, rather than other higher education institutions. This partnership lasted until 2001, when Northumbria University students formed a new side to call their own, the Flames. This was the same year of the first National Championships contested by British university sides, which was won by the Wildcats in their final appearance as a dual-university club. The success of this inaugural university tournament led to its repeat the following year, and it was again claimed by now single-institution Wildcats. With the National Championships a huge success and a growing number of institutions expressing interest in entering teams into competition, the Wildcats became a founding member of the British Universities Ice Hockey Association (BUIHA) upon its formation the following year in 2003THE 4Jul 2003. With the creation of the BUIHA and with it properly organised divisions and regular competition against other universities, not least local rivals Northumbria, the level of interest swelled and the Wildcats launched a new team, the 'B' team, in 2004 to ice in the new third tier of university competition. The first team exceeded expectations this academic year of competition, claiming the top spot in Division Two's northern section to take the number of trophies lifted by the Wildcats to three in four years. Two years later, another groundswell of interest in university ice hockey - particularly from students with little previous experience - led the club to set up a beginners' training programme and enter a development team, named the 'C' team, into the new third tier of BUIHA competition. With the aim of training and developing new players, the club continues to produce players who are able to compete at intermediate level competition with the 'B' team as little as twelve months after beginning to skate. Stan Calvert Cup Ice Hockey is one of the sports involved in the Annual Stan Calvert Cup Competition between Newcastle and Northumbria Universities. The games used to be played at the Metro Radio Arena (in the days when it had an ice pad) in front of crowds numbering in the hundreds (and occasionally, the thousands) and often in the same programme as the Newcastle Vipers professional ice hockey team. Ball/Dek/Floor Hockey For many years the Club ran a 'Stick Training' session in the University Sports Centre. The aim of the session was to enhance the stick handling and fitness skills of players without the expense of valuable ice time. In the 2011-12 season Joy Craighead developed these sessions further and created the Club's Dek Squad. Dek, or 'Street & Ball Hockey', uses much of the same equipment as ice hockey but is played in a normal sports centre gym, rather than an ice rink, so players run rather than skate. External Ball Hockey Competitions In February 2012 members of the Squad competed in the Fantastic Fours Dek TournamentSky TV 27 Feb 2012 in Gateshead Leisure Centre earning themselves a fleeting appearance on BSkyB. For the 2012-2013 season the Squad finished fourth in the UKBH Northern Conference {citation required|date=May 2013} and once again competed in the NEDekStars 'Fantastic Fours' Competition2013 NEDekStars Fantastic Fours CompetitionSky TV 18 Feb 2013 against 15 other teams - Squad Founder, Joy Craighead, was interviewed by BSkyB at the end of the tournament. Internal Ball Hockey Competitions Each year the Club holds a mini 3v3 tournament and competes for the 'Craighead Cup' (named after the tournament's founder, Joy Craighead). This is a chance for all members to have a bit of fun before the Annual Dinner and there other awards including the 'Best-Dressed' for the team with the most outstanding uniform and the 'Wooden Spoons' for the 'best losers'. Notable former players Retired jerseys Other notable players External links *Newcastle Wildcats References Category:British ice hockey teams Category:British ice hockey teams